Three men have been jailed for a combined 14 years and nine months over the violent robbery of a luxury Richard Mille watch in Berkeley Square, Mayfair. Younes Djoudi, Ali Eldahouzze and Abdel El Habchi were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 16 October in connection with the attack on Romanian fashion entrepreneur Catalin Botezatu.
Police said the robbery took place shortly before midnight on Wednesday 28 January. Mr Botezatu had left a restaurant in the square when the watch was taken. The case concerns that single late-night robbery in Mayfair and the subsequent police investigation, which traced movements away from the scene and led to arrests.
Evidence gathered after the robbery
The Metropolitan Police said detectives collected witness statements and reviewed CCTV footage after the attack. The footage showed the group arriving in the area by vehicle before leaving and travelling towards Slough. Officers then pursued enquiries connected to the vehicle, as well as mobile-phone and cell-site information, to identify suspects and build a picture of their movements.
Police said Djoudi and the vehicle were located in Slough on 29 January, the day after the robbery. Further examination of communications and location data led investigators to an address linked to the other two men. A warrant was executed at that address on 5 March. The investigation therefore drew on footage, witness evidence, vehicle enquiries and digital information collected at different stages after the incident.
Those steps set out how the police moved from the Berkeley Square scene to the people later sentenced. CCTV and witness material related to what happened around the square, while vehicle enquiries addressed the journey away from central London. Phone and cell-site work was used alongside those enquiries as detectives examined links between the suspects, the vehicle and the addresses identified during the case.
Combined term imposed at Southwark Crown Court
The combined custodial term imposed on Djoudi, Eldahouzze and El Habchi was 14 years and nine months. The sentencing brought the criminal proceedings over the Berkeley Square robbery to the point at which the court imposed prison terms on all three men. The case is separate from the broader figures on robbery in west London that police also provided.
The Richard Mille watch has not been reported recovered. Its loss remained part of the impact of the robbery on Mr Botezatu after the case reached sentencing. The court outcome means the January incident was followed by a nine-month investigation and court process, rather than ending with the immediate response at the scene.
How the wider robbery figures are measured
Police also set out figures for watch robbery across Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham. Between January and June, they recorded 97 watch robberies, a figure that includes attempts. In the same three boroughs and over the same six-month period, police recorded 1,196 robberies of all types.
The two totals measure different things. The 97 figure is limited to incidents involving watches and includes attempts, while 1,196 covers robbery generally. Neither number should be treated as a count of a single type of offence. The boroughs and six-month period are also specific: the figures do not purport to describe every robbery across London.
Police recorded a further 70 watches reported stolen between July and September. That later number covers three months rather than the January-to-June six-month period, so it cannot simply be compared with the earlier 97 figure as if both totals covered the same period. Taken together, the figures distinguish reported watch thefts and robbery incidents from the individual case that resulted in the sentences at Southwark Crown Court.
For this case, the established sequence is clear: a robbery in Berkeley Square shortly before midnight on 28 January; an investigation using witness, CCTV, vehicle and digital enquiries; and sentences on 16 October for three men. The combined prison term is 14 years and nine months.
